EP3168651B1 - Method for detecting particulate radiation - Google Patents

Method for detecting particulate radiation Download PDF

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EP3168651B1
EP3168651B1 EP16198005.7A EP16198005A EP3168651B1 EP 3168651 B1 EP3168651 B1 EP 3168651B1 EP 16198005 A EP16198005 A EP 16198005A EP 3168651 B1 EP3168651 B1 EP 3168651B1
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detector
estimated
pixels
pixel
electron
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French (fr)
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EP3168651A1 (en
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Bart Janssen
Erik Franken
Maarten Kuijper
Lingbo Yu
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FEI Co
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FEI Co
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N25/00—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof
    • H04N25/48—Increasing resolution by shifting the sensor relative to the scene
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01T—MEASUREMENT OF NUCLEAR OR X-RADIATION
    • G01T1/00—Measuring X-radiation, gamma radiation, corpuscular radiation, or cosmic radiation
    • G01T1/29—Measurement performed on radiation beams, e.g. position or section of the beam; Measurement of spatial distribution of radiation
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01T—MEASUREMENT OF NUCLEAR OR X-RADIATION
    • G01T1/00—Measuring X-radiation, gamma radiation, corpuscular radiation, or cosmic radiation
    • G01T1/16—Measuring radiation intensity
    • G01T1/24—Measuring radiation intensity with semiconductor detectors
    • G01T1/247—Detector read-out circuitry
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01T—MEASUREMENT OF NUCLEAR OR X-RADIATION
    • G01T1/00—Measuring X-radiation, gamma radiation, corpuscular radiation, or cosmic radiation
    • G01T1/29—Measurement performed on radiation beams, e.g. position or section of the beam; Measurement of spatial distribution of radiation
    • G01T1/2914—Measurement of spatial distribution of radiation
    • G01T1/2978—Hybrid imaging systems, e.g. using a position sensitive detector (camera) to determine the distribution in one direction and using mechanical movement of the detector or the subject in the other direction or using a camera to determine the distribution in two dimensions and using movement of the camera or the subject to increase the field of view
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T3/00—Geometric image transformations in the plane of the image
    • G06T3/40—Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
    • G06T3/4053—Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting based on super-resolution, i.e. the output image resolution being higher than the sensor resolution
    • G06T3/4069—Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting based on super-resolution, i.e. the output image resolution being higher than the sensor resolution by subpixel displacements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N25/00—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof
    • H04N25/10—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof for transforming different wavelengths into image signals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F39/00—Integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one element covered by group H10F30/00, e.g. radiation detectors comprising photodiode arrays
    • H10F39/10—Integrated devices
    • H10F39/12—Image sensors
    • H10F39/18—Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor [CMOS] image sensors; Photodiode array image sensors
    • H10F39/189—X-ray, gamma-ray or corpuscular radiation imagers
    • H10F39/1892—Direct radiation image sensors

Definitions

  • a method of detecting particulate radiation using a semiconductor based pixelated detector the detector pixels having a detector pixel size, the detector sensitive to the particulate radiation, each particle of the particulate radiation causing a multitude of electron/hole pairs in the semiconductor material of the detector, the multitude of electron/hole pairs having a centroid and a centroid extent, the extent of the centroid larger than the detector pixel size, the method comprising:
  • the known method describes a pixelated detector intercepting radiation in the form of energetic electrons. Each intercepted electron causes a cloud of electron/hole pairs in the semiconductor material of the detector, thereby causing a signal in the detector pixel(s) where it is detected. As the diameter of the cloud (the centroid) is larger than the diameter of the detector pixels, one impinging electron causes a signal in multiple detector pixels. Using the signal of different detector pixels, an estimate of the impact position is determined with a resolution better than the detector's pixel size, in this case with a resolution of half a detector pixel diameter. This is used to form an image with super-resolution (as the resolution is better than the detector pixel size).
  • the method does not disclose how the impact position is determined or estimated.
  • the method has not proven to give results for a resolution other than half a detector pixel or a (multiple of a) whole detector pixel.
  • centroid can be characterized with a FWHM (Full Width at Half Maximum) diameter.
  • US 2011/0210235A1 discloses an array of pixels for the detection of radiation or particles.
  • Each pixel in the array comprises a radiation receptor for converting radiation or particles into a radiation signal for converting the radiation signal into pulses.
  • the array also comprises a circuit for suppressing those pulses that are compared negatively versus the corresponding pulses in another pixel of the neighborhood for the same one or more criteria.
  • US 2015/0260854 A1 discloses method for detecting ionising radiation using a pixelated semi-conductor detector.
  • the affected pixel is determined, together with the instant of impact for this pixel.
  • a first instant before and a second instant after the instant of impact are deduced from this.
  • the deviations of the signals coming from an assembly of pixels adjacent to the affected point are then measured, with the deviations being measured between the first and second instants.
  • the position of the point of interaction of the radiation with the semi-conductor is estimated from the deviations thus measured.
  • JAECHEON KIM ET AL "Three-dimensional signal correction on U1traPeRL CZT detectors", NUCLEAR SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM CONFERENCE RECORD, 2007.
  • a depth and lateral correction algorithm has been developed to estimate both the depth of interaction (DOI) and the lateral position underneath the collecting pixel and therefore correct the signal amplitude.
  • US2011/297838A1 is directed to the correction of charge loss in a radiation detector. Correction factors for charge loss may be determined based on depth of interaction and lateral position within a radiation detector of a charge creating event. The correction factors may be applied to subsequently measured signals to correct for the occurrence of charge loss in the measured signals.
  • the invention intends to provide a method with improved resolution and/or signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio compared to the known method.
  • the response of a detector pixel to an impinging particle not only depends on different responses between pixels (inter-pixel differences or inter-pixel non-uniformity), but that when estimating the position within the detector pixel the probability that a particle is allocated to a position on the detector pixel (the position dependent bias) is nonuniform: said position dependent bias depends (reproducibly) on the position on the detector pixel and thus introduces an intra-pixel non-uniformity).
  • each estimated impact position to corresponding image pixels may comprise the adjustment of the estimated position within the detector pixel, the adjustment a function of the estimated position within the detector pixel. This may be achieved using a mathematical function, preferably a spline function, or using a look-up table (LUT). When using a LUT, the adjustment of the position may be based on one LUT value, or on an interpolation of more than one LUT values. This results in an adjusted estimated position.
  • a mathematical function preferably a spline function
  • LUT look-up table
  • each estimated impact position to corresponding image pixels comprises adding intensity to more than one image pixels, the adding a function of the estimated position (or adjusted estimated position) within the detector pixel.
  • the adding of intensity to more than one image pixel may be derived using a LUT, the LUT values a function of the estimated position within the pixel.
  • the LUT may show a large number of values, each value corresponding to a rounded estimated position. This introduces a (small) rounding in positional information.
  • the values are derived from an interpolation in the LUT, the interpolation based on the estimated position within the detector pixel. Less rounding is then to be expected.
  • the adding of intensity may be derived from a mathematical function, preferably a spline function.
  • the particulate radiation is particulate radiation from the group of electrons, ions, and X-rays
  • the invention does not relate to PALM or dSTORM, as these super-resolution methods detect a multitude of particles captured by one pixel, each particle a photon of visible light, each photon causing (at most) one electron/hole pair, followed by determining the centroid of several adjacent pixels.
  • Gatan's S2 camera the only known super-resolution setting is half the pixel size. Nowhere does Gatan disclose that the estimated position is shifted to counter clustering at half the pixel size. As the position dependent bias error introduces a non-uniformity at twice the pixel size, this is hard to detect when the super-resolution is set to exactly half the pixel size
  • the method is compatible with particulate radiation from the group of electron, ions, and X-ray photons.
  • the method further comprises obtaining a pixelated image using the estimates of the impact position of a multitude of particles, the estimate of the impact position of each particle contributing to the intensity of several image pixels.
  • the several image pixels are adjacent image pixels, but the amount of pixels need not be limited to the image pixels directly bordering the pixel corresponding to the estimated impact position.
  • FIG. 1 schematically shows the position dependent bias across the pixel.
  • the estimated impact positions can be perfectly retrieved from the image, that is: no positional information is lost.
  • the positional information of each individual estimated impact cannot be retrieved, but the information is incorporated in the image.
  • this spreading (effectively a spatial low-pass filter) may be followed by a high-pass filter to improve the image quality (crisp the image) with minimal loss of information.
  • the shifting and/or spreading should take place before attributing the information to an image pixel.
  • the spreading is done after combining detector images, information is lost. Shifting after combining is not possible. From this inventors concluded that any correction should be performed on the level where single impact events are handled, ideally by shifting the estimated impact position and spreading the information over several image pixels. A similar (although slightly inferior) result can be achieved when the impact is attributed to a group of detector sub-pixels (the sub-pixels used to construct an image) or a group of image pixels.
  • the shift or the spreading is performed with a higher resolution than the image representation, the high-frequency information (for example above half of the Nyquist frequency) is better represented, resulting in an improved S/N ratio.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • High Energy & Nuclear Physics (AREA)
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  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Radiation (AREA)
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Description

  • There is a method of detecting particulate radiation using a semiconductor based pixelated detector, the detector pixels having a detector pixel size, the detector sensitive to the particulate radiation, each particle of the particulate radiation causing a multitude of electron/hole pairs in the semiconductor material of the detector, the multitude of electron/hole pairs having a centroid and a centroid extent, the extent of the centroid larger than the detector pixel size, the method comprising:
    • A step of intercepting a particle of the particulate radiation,
    • A step of estimating the number of electron/hole pairs for a number of adjacent detector pixels,
    • A step of estimating the position of the centroid of the number of electron/hole pairs using the estimates of electron/hole pairs in adjacent detector pixels,
    • A step of estimating the impact position of the particle using said estimated position of the centroid,
    • A step of forming a pixelated image using the estimated position of a multitude of estimated impact positions, the pixelated image consisting of image pixels having an intensity,
  • Such a method is known inter alia from the "K2 Direct Detection Cameras", commercially available from Gatan Inc., 5794 W. Las Positas Blvd., Pleasanton, CA 94588, USA.
  • The known method describes a pixelated detector intercepting radiation in the form of energetic electrons. Each intercepted electron causes a cloud of electron/hole pairs in the semiconductor material of the detector, thereby causing a signal in the detector pixel(s) where it is detected. As the diameter of the cloud (the centroid) is larger than the diameter of the detector pixels, one impinging electron causes a signal in multiple detector pixels. Using the signal of different detector pixels, an estimate of the impact position is determined with a resolution better than the detector's pixel size, in this case with a resolution of half a detector pixel diameter. This is used to form an image with super-resolution (as the resolution is better than the detector pixel size).
  • The method does not disclose how the impact position is determined or estimated. The method has not proven to give results for a resolution other than half a detector pixel or a (multiple of a) whole detector pixel.
  • It is noted that in many cases the extent of the centroid can be characterized with a FWHM (Full Width at Half Maximum) diameter.
  • US 2011/0210235A1 discloses an array of pixels for the detection of radiation or particles. Each pixel in the array comprises a radiation receptor for converting radiation or particles into a radiation signal for converting the radiation signal into pulses. The array also comprises a circuit for suppressing those pulses that are compared negatively versus the corresponding pulses in another pixel of the neighborhood for the same one or more criteria.
  • US 2015/0260854 A1 discloses method for detecting ionising radiation using a pixelated semi-conductor detector. When the radiation interacts with the detector, the affected pixel is determined, together with the instant of impact for this pixel. A first instant before and a second instant after the instant of impact are deduced from this. The deviations of the signals coming from an assembly of pixels adjacent to the affected point are then measured, with the deviations being measured between the first and second instants. The position of the point of interaction of the radiation with the semi-conductor is estimated from the deviations thus measured.
  • JAECHEON KIM ET AL, "Three-dimensional signal correction on U1traPeRL CZT detectors", NUCLEAR SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM CONFERENCE RECORD, 2007. NSS '07. IEEE, IEEE, PI, (20071001), ISBN 978-1-4244-0922-8, pages 1289 - 1293, XP031206702 [X] - discloses a study of three-dimensional signal correction on pixellated CdZnTe (CZT) detectors. A depth and lateral correction algorithm has been developed to estimate both the depth of interaction (DOI) and the lateral position underneath the collecting pixel and therefore correct the signal amplitude.
  • US2011/297838A1 is directed to the correction of charge loss in a radiation detector. Correction factors for charge loss may be determined based on depth of interaction and lateral position within a radiation detector of a charge creating event. The correction factors may be applied to subsequently measured signals to correct for the occurrence of charge loss in the measured signals.
  • The invention intends to provide a method with improved resolution and/or signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio compared to the known method.
  • To that end the invention relates to a method according to claim 1.
  • Inventors found that the response of a detector pixel to an impinging particle not only depends on different responses between pixels (inter-pixel differences or inter-pixel non-uniformity), but that when estimating the position within the detector pixel the probability that a particle is allocated to a position on the detector pixel (the position dependent bias) is nonuniform: said position dependent bias depends (reproducibly) on the position on the detector pixel and thus introduces an intra-pixel non-uniformity).
    This can be explained as follows: assume that the extent of the cloud of electron/hole pairs is smaller than the pixel size, then if the adjacent detector pixels show no electron/hole pairs (all electron/hole pairs are generated within one detector pixel) the position will be allocated to the middle of the detector pixel, as there is no ground to allocate it to another position. Only when the particle hits near the border between two detector pixels (thus causing electron/hole pairs in two detector pixels) a position near the border can be determined, but where along the border is unknown: therefore the position of the particle will be associated to the middle of the border. Only near the corners a true positioning in two directions can be performed. For an extent much larger than the detector pixel size the effect (non-uniformity) smears out. For a centroid size (slightly) larger than the pixel size, the estimated positions cluster near the center of the detector pixel, to a lesser extent to the center of the borders, and to the corners. The peaks of enhanced probability within the pixel are therefore artefacts, resulting (in Fourier space) in a number of additional images located around multiple (even) Nyquist frequencies. Figure 1 gives an example of such enhanced probabilities (in real space, shown for one, square, pixel).
  • It is noted that these artefacts also occur when the cloud of electron/hole pairs (FWHM) generated in the detector is larger than the size of a pixel of the detector.
  • Inventors experimented to find a solution to counter the effect of said position dependent bias. The most obvious solution coming to mind of the skilled artisan is to attach a lower probability to the events near the peaks. In an image this is realized by scaling the intensity of image pixels corresponding to high probability locations. However, this has no physical basis: such scaling implies that only part of a particle detected at the position with a high probability is imaged. Also, part of the information is lost, resulting in an increase in noise. The method according to the invention, with or without improved resolution, can also be used for improved S/N ratio near the Nyquist frequency (the Nyquist frequency governed by the detector pixel size).
  • Inventors found that by adjusting the contribution of each impact position to corresponding image pixels to counter the effect of said position dependent bias, the effect of the position dependent bias can be countered.
  • The contribution of each estimated impact position to corresponding image pixels may comprise the adjustment of the estimated position within the detector pixel, the adjustment a function of the estimated position within the detector pixel. This may be achieved using a mathematical function, preferably a spline function, or using a look-up table (LUT). When using a LUT, the adjustment of the position may be based on one LUT value, or on an interpolation of more than one LUT values. This results in an adjusted estimated position.
  • The contribution of each estimated impact position to corresponding image pixels comprises adding intensity to more than one image pixels, the adding a function of the estimated position (or adjusted estimated position) within the detector pixel.
  • The adding of intensity to more than one image pixel may be derived using a LUT, the LUT values a function of the estimated position within the pixel. The LUT may show a large number of values, each value corresponding to a rounded estimated position. This introduces a (small) rounding in positional information. Preferably the values are derived from an interpolation in the LUT, the interpolation based on the estimated position within the detector pixel. Less rounding is then to be expected. Alternatively the adding of intensity may be derived from a mathematical function, preferably a spline function.
  • In yet another embodiment the particulate radiation is particulate radiation from the group of electrons, ions, and X-rays
  • It is noted that the invention does not relate to PALM or dSTORM, as these super-resolution methods detect a multitude of particles captured by one pixel, each particle a photon of visible light, each photon causing (at most) one electron/hole pair, followed by determining the centroid of several adjacent pixels.
  • It is further noted that for Gatan's S2 camera the only known super-resolution setting is half the pixel size. Nowhere does Gatan disclose that the estimated position is shifted to counter clustering at half the pixel size. As the position dependent bias error introduces a non-uniformity at twice the pixel size, this is hard to detect when the super-resolution is set to exactly half the pixel size
  • The method is compatible with particulate radiation from the group of electron, ions, and X-ray photons.
  • In an embodiment the method further comprises obtaining a pixelated image using the estimates of the impact position of a multitude of particles, the estimate of the impact position of each particle contributing to the intensity of several image pixels.
  • It is noted that when attributing the detected particle to only one pixel of the image, Moire effects and interferences can occur. Inventors found that to avoid this, the contribution of each particle is best spread out over several pixels.
  • It is noted that as long as the point spread function (PSF) used to spread out the contribution is known, this is a reversible method and the original position can be derived by deconvolution of the image intensities and the (known) PSF.
  • Preferably the several image pixels are adjacent image pixels, but the amount of pixels need not be limited to the image pixels directly bordering the pixel corresponding to the estimated impact position.
  • It is noted that although particularly useful for the method of the invention, also other methods for detecting particulate radiation may benefit from obtaining a pixelated image using the estimates of the impact position of a multitude of particles, the estimate of the impact position of each particle contributing to the intensity of several image pixels.
  • The invention is now elucidated using figure 1.
  • To that end figure 1 schematically shows the position dependent bias across the pixel. This concerns actual measurements where a large number of electrons impacted on a pixelated detector, the pixelated detector having a pixel size of 14 x 14 µm2, while the FWHM size of the cloud of electron/hole pairs is estimated to be 22 µm (1.6 times the pixel size). Note that the irradiation was uniform. Clearly the estimated position is not uniform, indicating that there is a position dependent bias. This position dependent bias can be countered by shifting of the position, using a vector field for each sub-pixel, or using a function where the adjusted position (u,v) is a function of the detected position (x,y), thus (u,v) = F(x,y), or it can be countered by spreading the contribution of one event (impact) over several image pixels or sub-pixels (representing the impact position as a 'blob' contributing to several detector sub-pixels, the blob a position dependent blob. It is noted that one sub-pixel may show a one-to-one relation to an image pixel, or several sub-pixels may contribute to one image pixel. In any event it is favorable to spread the information representing one estimated impact is spread over several image pixels. This spreading over several image pixels (further referred to as spreading) is in itself counter-intuitive, as it gives a result similar to blurring, but the spreading eliminates (or greatly reduces) Moire-effects and interferences.
  • It is noted that when using appropriate spreading, and assuming the image is a sparse image (so: in most cases one or no impacts per image pixel) the estimated impact positions can be perfectly retrieved from the image, that is: no positional information is lost. In case of a non-sparse image the positional information of each individual estimated impact cannot be retrieved, but the information is incorporated in the image.
  • It is further noted that this spreading (effectively a spatial low-pass filter) may be followed by a high-pass filter to improve the image quality (crisp the image) with minimal loss of information.
  • The shifting and/or spreading should take place before attributing the information to an image pixel. When the spreading is done after combining detector images, information is lost. Shifting after combining is not possible. From this inventors concluded that any correction should be performed on the level where single impact events are handled, ideally by shifting the estimated impact position and spreading the information over several image pixels. A similar (although slightly inferior) result can be achieved when the impact is attributed to a group of detector sub-pixels (the sub-pixels used to construct an image) or a group of image pixels.
  • If the shift or the spreading is performed with a higher resolution than the image representation, the high-frequency information (for example above half of the Nyquist frequency) is better represented, resulting in an improved S/N ratio.
  • It is noted that all this does not take away the need to correct for before mentioned inter-pixel differences.
  • Summarizing, when detecting particulate radiation, such as electrons, with a pixelated detector, a cloud of electron/hole pairs is formed in the detector. Using the signal caused by this cloud of electron/hole pairs a position of the impact is estimated. Inventors found that, when the size of the cloud is comparable to the pixel size, or much smaller, the estimated position shows a strong bias to the center of the pixel and the corners, as well to the middle of the borders. This hinders forming an image with super-resolution. By shifting the position or by attributing the electron to several sub-pixels this bias can be countered, resulting in a more truthful representation. It is noted that shifting and/or spreading should take place before attributing the information to an image pixel, and before adding the events per sub-pixel. When the spreading is done after combining detector images, information is lost. It is noted that shifting after combining detector images is not possible.

Claims (5)

  1. A method of detecting particulate radiation using a semiconductor based pixelated detector, the detector pixels having a detector pixel size, the detector sensitive to the particulate radiation, each particle of the particulate radiation causing a multitude of electron/hole pairs in the semiconductor material of the detector, the multitude of electron/hole pairs having a centroid and a centroid extent, the extent of the centroid extent larger than the detector pixel size, the method comprising:
    • A step of intercepting a particle of the particulate radiation,
    • A step of estimating the number of electron/hole pairs for a number of adjacent detector pixels,
    • A step of estimating the position of the centroid of the number of electron/hole pairs using the estimates of electron/hole pairs in adjacent detector pixels,
    • A step of estimating the impact position of the particle using said estimated position of the centroid,
    • A step of forming a pixelated image using the estimated position of a multitude of estimated impact positions, the pixelated image consisting of image pixels having an intensity,
    wherein,
    • When estimating the impact position said estimate has a position dependent bias depending on the position within the detector pixel, and
    • The contribution of each estimated impact position to corresponding image pixels is adjusted to counter the effect of said position dependent bias, characterized in that, the adjustment of the contribution of each estimated impact position to corresponding image pixels comprises directly adding intensity to several image pixels,
    thereby spreading out the contribution of each estimated impact position to said several image pixels.
  2. The method of claim 1 in which the adjustment of the contribution of each estimated impact position to corresponding image pixels comprises the adjustment of the estimated position, the adjustment a function of the estimated impact position relative to the detector pixel.
  3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2 in which the function is a function from the group of spline functions.
  4. The method of any of claims 1 or claim 2 in which the function is stored in a look-up table (LUT).
  5. The method of any of the preceding claims in which the particulate radiation is particulate radiation from the group of electrons, ions, and X-rays.
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US20190075258A1 (en) 2019-03-07
CN106680860B (en) 2022-05-17
US20170134674A1 (en) 2017-05-11
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EP3168651A1 (en) 2017-05-17
JP6920808B2 (en) 2021-08-18
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US10122946B2 (en) 2018-11-06
US10389955B2 (en) 2019-08-20

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